The task is straightforward enough: From July 10\u201319, participants are encouraged to trap and humanely dispatch<\/a> as many snakes as possible. The pythons must then be deposited at one of the competition\u2019s designated check stations within 24 hours, at which point they\u2019re measured and added to the hunter\u2019s overall tally. At the end of the 10 days, prizes are awarded to the participants who caught the most snakes and whoever bagged the longest serpents.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cProtecting Everglades National Park, one of the world\u2019s most globally significant ecosystems, requires ongoing partnerships and community stewardship,\u201d Everglades National Park superintendent Pedro Ramos said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cBy engaging the public in science-based invasive species management, we are able to raise awareness and strengthen support for conservation across South Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n Burmese pythons<\/a> are native to southeast Asia, but arrived in the United States during the 1970s via the pet trade. After realizing the average adult python easily reaches 13-feet long, many unprepared owners in Florida eventually released their sizable mistakes into the wild. These first generations of snakes weren\u2019t only perfectly suited for the state\u2019s subtropical conditions\u2014they faced zero competition from native predators and quickly rose to the top of the food chain.<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s Burmese python population has skyrocketed since then, in the process decimating local wildlife and ecosystems. It\u2019s difficult to put an exact number on them, but researchers previously estimated anywhere between 100,000 and 300,000 snakes<\/a> slithering through the Everglades and surrounding regions.<\/p>\n Plenty of ongoing projects<\/a> and experimental solutions<\/a> are in the works, but one of the easiest ways to cull pythons remains simply going out and nabbing them. The first Florida Python Challenge took place in 2013 and again in 2016 before becoming an annual competition in 2020. Last year, 934 participants from across the U.S. and Canada participated in the challenge<\/a>, netting a record 294 pythons in south Florida. A $10,000 first-place prize for the most pythons collected went to a competitor who slew 60 snakes in 10 days. The longest snake recorded was eliminated by someone in the \u201cNovice\u201d category. Although, whoever takes down a 15-foot-11-inch python probably wouldn\u2019t count as an amateur to most people.<\/p>\n The Florida Python Challenge isn\u2019t a free-for-all. The event implements strict rules<\/a>, and any aspiring snake sleuths must pass an online safety course<\/a> before heading out to predesignated hunting grounds. No firearms or trained hunting animals, either. Instead, challenge organizers recommend either air guns or pithing techniques, such as quickly impaling the snakes through the head.<\/p>\n For those of you who think you have what it takes to help curb a serious problem in an essential ecosystem\u2014you\u2019ve got at least a few weeks to start honing your skills.<\/p>\n \t\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t 2025 PopSci Best of What\u2019s New<\/p>\n The 50 most important innovations of the year<\/p>\n \t\u00a0<\/p>\n Andrew Paul is a staff writer for Popular Science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get the Popular Science daily newsletter\ud83d\udca1 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Florida\u2019s war…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1209,28,30,29,4615,115,15750],"class_list":["post-279770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-culture","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-invasive-species","tag-news","tag-snakes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"products](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/best-of-whats-new-2025-HERO.png\")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n